A picture shows Mosul's Al-Nuri Mosque and the remains of the destroyed "Al-Hadba" leaning minaret (right) next to it in the former base of the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Iraq, where the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi used to address followers before the group was chased out of the area in 2017. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US military operation in northwest Syria (See story on Page 7) Photo: AFP

The US has deployed Patriot air defense batteries to Iraqi bases to protect American troops recently targeted by Iranian missiles, US and Iraqi military sources told AFP Monday.

Washington and Baghdad had been negotiating the placement of the defense system since January, when Tehran fired ballistic missiles at the western Iraqi base of Ain al-Asad, which hosts American and other foreign troops.

It was not immediately clear whether the US had ultimately received the Iraqi government's approval.

One of the Patriot batteries was deployed to Ain al-Asad last week and was being assembled, according to a US defense official and an Iraqi military source. 

Another battery was deployed to a base in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, the US official said in a statement.

Two further batteries destined for Iraq were still in Kuwait, the official added. 

The Patriot systems are composed of high performance radars and interceptor missiles capable of destroying incoming ballistic missiles in flight.

Iraq had resisted the deployment because it feared Iran would see it as a threat and further ramp up tensions.

Top Iraqi officials who met US Central Command Chief General Kenneth McKenzie in February suggested Washington could grant Baghdad some political "cover" by reducing its troop presence in Iraq as it deployed the missiles, a US military source with knowledge of the talks told AFP.

In recent weeks, the US-led coalition has significantly drawn down troop levels in Iraq.

On Monday, the alliance pulled out of a military base in the northern city of Mosul, the fourth location it has withdrawn from this month. 

Coalition officials told AFP the ultimate aim was to continue supporting Iraqi forces battling jihadist remnants, but "from fewer bases and with fewer people."

The alliance is also temporarily withdrawing hundreds of trainers as Iraq's military has halted all training since early March to minimize the risk of the novel coronavirus pandemic spreading among its forces. 

"The US objective for the Patriots is to protect its troops that are now at a smaller number of bases," a Western diplomat in Baghdad told AFP.

AFP